Great news:<\/p>\n
Christians in Malaysia have the constitutional right to use the word \u201cAllah\u201d to refer to God, the country\u2019s high court declared Thursday.<\/p>\n
In the landmark ruling, Judge Datuk Lau Bee Lan announced that the word \u201cAllah\u201d is not exclusive to Islam and that the government\u2019s Home Ministry is \u201cnot empowered\u201d to ban non-Muslims from using the word.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis \u2026 means that the Bahasa Malaysia-speaking community of the Christian faith can now continue to freely use the word \u2018Allah\u2019 without any interference from the authorities,\u201d the Rev. Fr. Lawrence Andrew, editor of the Roman Catholic Church\u2019s weekly Malaysian publication The Herald, told reporters in Kuala Lumpur Thursday. . . .<\/p>\n
Despite the threat of appeal, Christians in Malaysia have hailed Thursday\u2019s decision as a victory for freedom of religion in the Muslim-majority country.<\/p>\n
The controversy over non-Muslim \u201cAllah\u201d usage had resulted in the government\u2019s confiscation of more than 15,000 Bibles earlier this year and drawn the attention of Christians internationally as well.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u00a0Full report from Christian Post of 31 December 2009 Malaysia Court Nixes Gov’t Ban on Christian ‘Allah’ Usage<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0The ‘Malaysian Insider’ of 2 January has Christians rejoicing\u00a0Allah for all<\/a>;\u00a0while Muslim reactions vary from dismay to support, see\u00a0Khir Toyo says in mourning over Allah ruling<\/a>.\u00a0 Reference my earlier article\u00a0‘Allah’ banned for Christians<\/a>.\u00a0 The issue of a multi-faith society, Swiss minaret ban is bad<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Great news: Christians in Malaysia have the constitutional right to use the word \u201cAllah\u201d to refer to God, the country\u2019s high court declared Thursday. In the landmark ruling, Judge Datuk Lau Bee Lan announced that the word \u201cAllah\u201d is not … Continue reading